ok, so i have to write a bit on what i prefer that brides and grooms think about before the wedding day. it is not that i expect any of you to do this (i highly encourage them). these are just ideas for you to think about and maybe it will change your mind to see your groom prior too the “i do’s”. i have been shooting weddings for over 5 years now and during these years i have seen lots of weddings and have though of some ways to make the day run more smoothly. it is not bad if you choose not to do these tips, i just feel that there are some ways to make your day easier and most people don’t think about these things while planning the wedding. it also helps for wonderful photos for the ceremony, formals and the bride and groom shots!

1. plan your wedding ceremony time according to the time of year it is. the reason i want you to look closely into this is because during the fall the time changes and it gets dark really early in the day. when it is dark this only leads us to shoot lots indoors. it is really hard to capture the amazing bride and groom shots when we don’t have any natural light. i love natural light and it makes for some great photos. take advantage of the god given sun!

2. if you see each other before the wedding then this will help reduce the time that you have to spend taking pictures after the ceremony. also, the churches these days only allow for 15 minutes of photos after the ceremony. it is really difficult to get everyone together in that amount of time. it can be done but most of the time the bride is frustrated because the family is slow getting together. also, couples are anxious to get to the reception! i don’t blame them…but this cuts down on the time that we could be taking pictures of you to and making memories for a life time. it also is nice because you do not keep hungry guests waiting for you to arrive to eat. you could save money and not have a cocktail hour! if we arrive and have time to shoot for one hour with the bride and groom that will leave us to be relaxed and ready to capture the action of the reception and not worry about all of the formals and making sure we catch the bride and groom alone after the ceremony. really, all you want to do is relax and not worry about more photos!

3. you will not have to run around screaming for uncle joe and aunt sue for family photos. it is a lot easier to give people an exact time for family photos. here is what happens most of the time: after the vows are said and the people exit the church, half of the family honestly forgets that there are pictures to be taken. they are so excited to see friends that they simply forgot that they were on call for family photos. make it easy on the guests and everyone meet before the wedding!

4. know that you don’t want to see each other before the wedding. lets take pictures soon after the wedding all dressed up again! this will be fun and you will not have to stress out about the day at all! and who wants to worry about getting your dress dirty. there is a option to do a shoot after the wedding.

5. getting married outside: this is fun! just make sure that you don’t plan for a sunset service if you are not seeing each other before. most weddings run slightly behind and you would not want to have a dark wedding! no one would see you unless you brought in tons of lights. it is hard to take pictures in the dark…and we love the bride and groom shots!

6. schedule more than 20 minutes with the photographer to shoot the bride and groom photos. you will be happy you did in the long run.

all of this said, your wedding day is special and the easier it is to capture great photos the better! we want you to have the best day ever and to capture that on film in the best way possible. here are some photos from a wedding shot last month. sarah and james chose to get married in a wonderful place called the alden hotel and they chose to see each other before the wedding! it was really fun to take photos of them before hand and i don’t think it took away from the two seeing each other at the ceremony. here are a few vendors: belles and beaux bridal consulting, and events in bloom.

here is georgia on her 1st birthday! i am so lucky that i got the chance to see her on her big day. i have been taking pictures of her since she was a couple days old… and now she is one. it was a fun photo shoot with her. we got to play with balloons, her toys, her big fluffy dog, and make silly faces. she is a beautiful baby and what a blessing. these past months have been trying for this little one and her family. they found a tumor in her chest and had to remove it and all sorts of things that you never want to hear were heard these past months. now, hopes are high and tests came back clear! praise the lord for that. please keep her in your prayers! it makes me stop and think about why i love what i do. i love to capture emotion, life and just the joy that we sometimes forget to see. i could just cry when i got to capture georgia and her mom loving on each other, it made me want to run home to stella and kiss her forever. it made me want to have more patience and love life more. life is too short people! we are all caught up in this thing called life and we get frustrated about little things that will not matter. i am great about doing this! we just need to stop and give kisses to each other and be thankful for all that we are blessed with….hopefully i get to capture a piece of it.

meet allison!!! she is 18 months old and a ball of energy. i had a wonderful time taking pictures of her. she was full of smiles the whole time and kept me on my toes the entire shoot. she would not stop running around and i chased her for most of the shoot! i don’t know how her mommy does it! i heard that after the session she was passed out from the session. *not only do you get great pictures of your child…you get a break because they are so tired after the session! that should be my slogan we played in the backyard, with her toys, in the tent, on her parents bed, read a book, went to the park and ate lots of raisins! what a day. i met her mom in college through our sorority. yes, i was a a sorority girl. it was fun to reconnect again. i can’t believe a lot of us girls are having babies!

i have been photographing these little ones for the past 6 months and i love seeing them change. here is what three months time does to babies! these two have grown lots! we went downtown to the new discovery green park to take pictures! i love the bright wall/parking garage door. i will photograph them in another three months and then their first year. i feel like i blink with stella and she grows. time goes by so fast as i reach my ripe old age! i don’t even remember when stella was this little. maybe that is god’s way of preparing me for one more??? maybe katie? oh, and josh too!

when i first met sara and chris i knew they would be fun to work with. for their engagement session they did anything that i asked them too! even when we decided to sit in some pretty interesting places (someones outdoor bathroom??). Lets just say thats what it smelled like. you guys rock! off to edit more!

i am so excited to share this beautiful outdoor wedding at bentwater country club at lake conroe. it was such a wonderful event! i had a great time taking photos and seeing lindsay and alex tie the knot. they have a fun story… really they are high school sweethearts and are completely in love! the wedding had some really unique details to it: lindsay was married in her mothers wedding dress, even wore her mom’s shoes. the grooms arrived to the ceremony in a boat! i am glad no one went overboard, their cute dog (child) was in the wedding, and they ended the night with a golf cart ride! such a fun time! take a look at some of my favorites. ann whittington with ann events did a wonderful job that night.

my dear friends are finally married! this wedding has been in the works for some time now and i had a wonderful time capturing it. the wedding took place at the beautiful wildflower center, in austin. the bride and groom met in college in austin but live in denver now…it was fitting for them to have a texas wedding! i kept thinking about the wonderful colorado weather most of the night because they choose to get married on one of the hottest days ever! it was around 100! but it felt blistering. so i will stop talking about the heat and talk more about this fabulous wedding. i am only going to show a few favorites that i pulled out of the mix during my rough rough edit, before i send them off to the fabulous editing team at shoot dot edit! they do an amazing job with all of my weddings. it allows me to focus on what i love to do and that is shoot! it is 1 am and i am rambling now! take a look at a sneak peak of kelli and nicks wedding! it was amazing! every little detail was perfect! check out stella too! her first wedding as a flower girl! it was amazing having her at the wedding and watching her watch me work. funny story before i go: i was telling the wedding party to get together for a group shot and i looked over at stella and she was pointing to the crowd behind me and moving her hands around! she was having fun pretending to tell people where to go. it was funny…my little clone. i am off to bed now before i start talking about more random thoughts. Here are some of the vendors that kelli and nick used: Austin Soiree, Path Salon, Clay Nightingale, and Prive Florist.

today i turn 28!  i am enjoying myself today…laying out by the pool, coffee on congress(austin, texas), birthday cake for breakfast, spending time with josh, stella and friends, and shooting one of my best friends weddings today! i am having a great time!  here are some pictures from this am.

hi all moms who are interested in a portrait session for your child this summer. i have been thinking about ways to make a special session fun and unique. I have come up with a great idea…custom sessions that also include a great discount! this summer lets capture your child in a summer action. i can work with each one of you for a unique session featuring a summer activity. i will write out the details just in case you can’t read the blog image. sessions are available times in july and august…featuring anything summer! pool time, bubbles, ice cream (i want some), the beach, or just good old fashion summer fun! sessions are 35 minutes long: receive a 30% off discount for all packages or a la carte for $145! space is limited for summer sessions so act now! email me to reserve your session today. i can’t wait to capture your little ones!

This Week, Elizabeth Anne Designs, a wonderful wedding blog, is featuring Southern Weddings.  They happened to see  a wonderful southern wedding that I shot in March for Jacquie and Alfredo and they blogged about their wedding! You can check it out… and while you are there you can look around for tips and how to’s for your wedding day! I wish that blogging was the thing when I was getting married. You are sure to find wonderful ideas for how to make your wedding unique! This weekend I am off to Austin to shoot my close friends wedding. I can’t wait to share those photos!